The changes are more than cosmetic, said McCready CEO Joy Strand.

Leaders of Somerset County’s largest health-care provider trumpeted Tuesday a new name, new look and new way forward.

The McCready Foundation is now McCready Health. The Crisfield-based nonprofit health system also unveiled a new logo that shrinks the once-dominant image of a sailboat.

The changes are more than cosmetic, said McCready CEO Joy Strand. They symbolize the organization’s transformation over its 92-year history from a country hospital to a 21st century provider with a broad array of services.

“We are charting a new course going forward with the rebranding as a springboard,” Strand told a gathering of about 40 people, including McCready employees, media and local dignitaries.

Joining its Edward W. McCready Memorial Hospital over the years: a nursing and rehabilitation center, a medical office complex and an assisted-living facility.

The system also is planning to open a medical outpost soon in Princess Anne and is in “exploration stages” with Adventist Healthcare on an inpatient substance abuse and behavioral health center, Strand said.

Nestled in Maryland’s poorest county, the company has struggled at times to stay in the black. The system lost money in two of the four most recent years for which Internal Revenue Service documents are available. And from 2011 to 2013, it slashed its workforce from 352 employees to 243.

Percy “P.J.” Purnell, who chairs McCready’s board, said the organization’s survival is key to the local economy, calling it “if not the most important thing in our town, then close.”

Some of the hospital’s financial woes can be traced to Annapolis, he added.

“We’re the smallest hospital in the state of Maryland, and the rules are not written for the smallest hospital. So we’ve had a tough time through the years to maintain the hospital and grow it,” said Purnell, a former Crisfield mayor.

Strand said, “There’s been a definite shift in the industry from treating the sick to keeping people well.”

Last year, the federal government approved a waiver for Maryland that allows the state to continue setting reimbursement rates for hospitals while putting more emphasis on preventive care.

In that regard, McCready is ahead of the curve compared with its peers.

Hospital care accounted for 20 percent of its patient revenue during the 2013-2014 fiscal year; at the typical Maryland hospital, inpatients provided 55 percent of overall care proceeds, according to the state Health Services Cost Review Commission.

That presents a financial challenge, though, since inpatients tend to be a big driver for outpatient growth, said Strand, who was hired at McCready two years ago after serving in the same position for a small hospital in southwestern Michigan.

The new logo features a sleeker sloop and a switch from all blue to a combination of blue and teal intended to call to mind the waters of the nearby Chesapeake Bay. The organization also redesigned its website, www.McCreadyHealth.org, and planned to launch a series of advertisements in local media.

Strand discussed the changes in a PowerPoint presentation, pausing at one point to describe in detail the new logo’s charms.

“It’s been modernized,” she told the crowd inside the hospital’s community room. “It has motion. One of the things I love about the sailboat is it’s pushing forward. It’s riding that wave.”